My interracial harem of beautiful queens

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Adam clapped his clothes to get rid of the dust that had settled on them. He sighed and looked around, noticing that the entire store seemed to be glowing.

"I got a bit carried away... honestly, I didn't expect to find myself cleaning dust so diligently one day. It's somewhat humiliating," Adam thought, furrowing his brows and twisting the corners of his mouth.

He wondered how his adversaries in the Lower Realm would react upon learning that he had become a regular clothing store employee, diligently cleaning dust at that. A shadow of embarrassment crossed Adam's face, and he sighed, trying to shake off such thoughts.

"So be it. Only by facing difficulties do we become stronger. For me, accumulating wealth and becoming even stronger is far more important. Otherwise, my fate will be no better than that of a basement rat."

He was currently only in the Mortality Realm: Strengthening the Body (1)], which was the lowest point and hardly worthy of attention. Therefore, he would have to endure tough times, not to mention the mockery. However, Adam's main goal was to become stronger and, most importantly, to immerse himself in the political game of this world.

"I've researched some things about it," he thought, sitting on a chair to take a break. Narrowing his eyes, he recalled the information he had learned from Elrion: "I am in the Holy Empire of Moonlight. It's powerful on its own, but..."

In a world with over a hundred countries, some, of course, were in a vassal subservient state to larger players, but it couldn't be denied that this world was dangerously unpredictable. One could never be carefree, especially concerning their neighbors.

The Nilx Empire, together with the Principality of Nalabun, are considered allies of the Holy Empire of Moonlight, but they harbor not the most honest intentions towards their supposed ally. Therefore, one cannot be completely sure of their allies, as they could betray them at any moment. Caution is required in all matters.

As for other neighbors, the following countries fall into their ranks: Protectorate of Voh, Kingdom of Khriaca, Kingdom of Chox. They surround the Holy Empire of Moonlight from above and from the right side. To the left, there is only ice – no one lives there. It is said that the temperature there can drop to absolute zero, and along with the unfriendly weather, there is also an extremely low concentration of magical energy.

These "icy zones" are only two in this world. Another one is located to the right at a distance of 509 km. These two zones have not been occupied by any state, so the weakest had to squeeze at the very bottom of the world. Adam saw the map with his own eyes and was surprised by it.

(A/N: The map in .map format is available on my Discord server, in the #illustration channel. It can be opened using Asgaar's Fantasy Map Generation app. Other information such as population and religion can be disregarded).

There were indeed many kingdoms and empires here. It seemed that the beings of this world were much more territorial than those in the Lower Realm.

"Ice Zones... they are also called the 'Realm of Death.' Whoever leads armies and sets foot on the icy land will feel the breath of death, forgetting the way home. The body turns into a skeleton and the skeleton into dust in the endless history of the world. Many legends are told about it, most of which send shivers down the spine," Adam thought, recalling cases where over a thousand beings from the Immortality Realm were buried in ice, forever lost. Even their souls did not survive: "The old librarian who told me about this looked frightened and trembled with fear. His emotions were genuine, so I unquestionably believe that such incidents occurred."

A place where not even an Immortal would tread. Although it sounded extremely dangerous, it couldn't help but capture Adam's attention, who felt potential in such places. Unclaimed lands stretching for tens of thousands of square kilometers. Wasn't this the perfect place for his plan?

To build a Kingdom, no, an Empire. To seize control with his mighty force over all souls and rise to the heavens like a god, holding the fate of a billion beings under control!

Strangely, Adam lost consciousness, but his body didn't fall from the chair; it held itself upright. His back was proud and straight, like that of a tiger, and the aura around him was imposing and oppressive. Magical energy within a radius of ten kilometers rushed towards him, filling his magic source but finding no place to rest.

Thus, magical energy began to affect the magic source itself, with the help of the miraculous refinement method of the Path of Endless Elements, which directly influenced the incoming magical energy, purifying it and intentionally directing it towards the magic source.

The golden glow from the magic source was more than enough to blind unprepared eyes. Cracking sounds echoed as if someone stepped on a thin layer of ice and broke it.

An hour passed, which felt like a moment. Adam's mind was filled with the loud chants of his mantra, originating from the Path of Endless Elements.

If the Gods were to hear his mantra, they would immediately annihilate the audacious creature that set a goal to reach the pinnacle of evolution, holding the laws of the world in its hands and subduing all living beings. The keyword here is "laws of the world," which can also be deciphered as "God," considering that they are the possessors of the World Laws.

And so, the second hour passed when Adam opened his eyes, shining with a bright golden light as if a deity descended upon his body. In these eyes, an elusive power could be felt, capable of trampling any malefactor, but unfortunately, for now, it was just a sensation, not a reality.

But it didn't take a second for darkness to descend into his eyes. A sinister cold emerged as if locked in a house with ghosts. Breathing became heavy as if poisoned by cobra venom. It was the power of the Devil Source!

"So, this is the power of the devil? So cold, merciless, and terrifying. This demonic, no... devilish poison surpasses even what Veronica had. The difference in lineage..."

Devil and Royal Demon. It seemed that they didn't have so many differences, but that was a gross mistake. If one were to make a comparison, it was like being mortal and immortal – the difference in existence was significant! Heaven and Earth in their manifestations.

It seemed that this mysterious state led him to good results. The only regret was that the level of improvement was not raised; it seemed to be held back by an invisible barrier. Breaking through it was extremely challenging.

"Frightening power... even if I couldn't increase my level, at least my Magic Source has grown in size," Adam thought and opened his eyes.

But the next moment, he was stunned when he saw his employer lying in front of him. His face was tinted with green light, while his aura weakened with each passing second. He was poisoned!

"Darn! It's because of my practice. I didn't even think to check before trying the power of the Devil Source!" Adam panicked in his thoughts but still rushed to Elrion.

Feeling the urgency, he immediately activated his Devil Source, but this time not using it for an attack. His poison had the horrifying property of absorbing the enemy's magical energy, thereby strengthening the poison. The more magical energy the enemy used, the worse for them. The Devil's Poison was no joke!

"I don't have any healing potions or anything like that... but I think I can extract the poison before it's too late," Adam thought, somewhat calming down.

He focused on the Devil Source, and soon a very, very small dark purple droplet emerged from Elrion's ears. Without wasting time, Adam immediately absorbed the poison back, and although it was a bit uncomfortable because the poison had already intensified, he still suppressed it in the Devil Source.

"Phew... the main part is done. Now, I just need to redirect a bit of magical energy to Elrion, and then his body will start recovering on its own," he thought and sat in a lotus position. In the next moment, his body shone with a bright light, and a point appeared on his forehead, from which a bright golden light shot out.

Adam frowned when he felt that only 5% of magical energy remained in Elrion's body. It was the danger zone. If this indicator dropped even lower...

"No... better to focus on healing," he thought and got to work.

***

Two hours passed. Adam opened his eyes and wiped away the cold sweat. During this time, no employees came to the store because Elrion declared a day off and closed the store for a photoshoot. It worked in his favor, so there was no need to explain anything.

After Elrion's breathing stabilized along with his magical energy, Adam immediately moved the man to his bed. In just a few minutes, Elrion's complexion returned to normal.

"Dangerous... I need to be careful with this poison. It doesn't recognize allies or enemies. For it, the most important thing is to penetrate the victim's body, and everything else doesn't matter," Adam thought helplessly.

Using this poison during a battle was inconvenient, and controlling it was impossible. Most importantly, if the poison could turn into mist, the problems would be even greater. Everything around Adam would be poisoned, even if they were allies. That's why he was reluctant to use it during a battle.

Although, if only enemies were around him, it would only help. So, it was a very conflicting power that he still had to master.

Fortunately, after two hours, Elrion came to his senses. He looked extremely puzzled and didn't understand what was happening.

"Adam? Why am I lying here? Hmm... I remember entering the store, and then I lost consciousness from pain," mumbled Elrion with a puzzled tone, rubbing his temple. He frowned from the pain, feeling that his body had become like a stone. "Did I overwork? Well, lately, I can't sleep because of the fashion show. Knight Clinton doesn't spare his people at all..."

"You're absolutely right. You need more rest," Adam said with a thumbs-up.

Adam didn't bother correcting him and just nodded with a smile as if that's how it should be. Anyway, even if he asked, he had no intention of talking about the devilish poison.

To be continued...